Specialist Bike Insurance

Many of us are returning to the roads on cycles. Can you save on bike insurance!

Specialist bikes and electric-assisted bikes often costing more than £1500 are increasingly popular.

Insurers are reporting an increase in bike theft and you should review your insurance cover!

As we are ‘on a mission’ to help people get the best out of their insurance, even if it is not with us, we wondered:

Do I need to buy a specialist cycle policy?

Owning a special bike means you might end up considering two insurance policies; one for your bike and another for the rest of your possessions (kit and contents insurance).

Here are the pros and cons of different ways of insuring your bike.

There are many specialist cycle policies out there but, are home & contents or Military Kit & Contents policies adequate for most needs?

Home & Contents vs Specialist cover.

There are two key factors;

1. 1. The level of cover to protect your bike and,
   2. Cost – do two policies add cost and effort for you the customer?

We have assumed that most cyclists have a home and contents or possessions insurance policy.

We have compared our Military Home and Contents policy (which is comparable to the leading civilian H&C policies) with 2 leading cycle insurers to see if you could save on bike insurance.

The comparison is startling.

What did we find?

Cycle insurers usually start from a baseline of cycle cover to financially protect you for theft, accidental or malicious damage.

That cover is also covered by many home and contents policies though sometimes with cycle value limits – you should check the cycle limit is adequate on your policy.

The security requirements are fairly standard – you have to take care of your bike and lock it up.

BUT, specialist insurers sometimes specify a minimum standard of lock (eg a Thatcham Gold, silver or bronze) whereas general insurers usually just require an ‘appropriate’ cycle lock.

Are two Policies better than one?

We did a price comparison as well…..

The Services Family quote to cover a bike (above) INCLUDES our contents policy which also covers Cash & Cards, Military Kit, Deployment cover, valuable and gadgets (cover for about £7000 of general possessions, £2000 in Tech & valuables and the bike valued above).

Conclusions

Given ours is a specialist Home & Contents policy, we were surprised when we ran the cost comparisons!

Points to Note:

1. Kit and contents with ‘super bike’ cover can be for a LOWER price than just covering your bike with a specialist policy.
2. Home or Contents insurance policies will often give the same covers as we described so check your current policy before taking out a specialist policy when you buy a new bike.
3. While many insurers will cover high value bikes, you must declare the bike to have it covered, but remember some insurers have limitations on the bike’s maximum value.
4. Overall, it does not appear to make sense to have two policies unless you ride competitively.

Most cyclists do not necessarily need a specialist bike insurance policy – it may be an expensive and unnecessary cost!

You could save on bike insurance.

 

This blog was first published on Forces Net – the British Forces Broadcasting Service website.